1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and system for distinguishing between software-induced and hardware-induced problems or outage events, and more particularly to a method and system for reducing warranty expenses by automatically distinguishing between software-induced problems or outage events and hardware-induced problems or outage events, and further to pinpointing the hardware or software cause of the problem or outage event when a service call is required.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a customer experiences a problem or outage event with a computer system, oftentimes the customer or field service engineer does not know whether the event was caused by a hardware problem or a software problem. It is well-documented that many outages in computer systems (40% or more) are due to software problems.
It is further known that, when it is not possible to discriminate between a software- or hardware-caused event, the customer or field service engineer often assumes that the problem is due to hardware, in which case customer/field service engineer often returns to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) such as IBM or the like, all hardware suspected of being the cause of the problem (or in many cases the entire system).
However, much of this hardware is in fact not defective, with the net result being that a large percentage (often higher than 40%) of hardware parts returned to the OEM under warranty are tested at the OEM's facility and classified as “No Defect Found”(NDF). “NDF” means that the OEM could not replicate the customer's problem with that particular piece of hardware.
Unfortunately, by this time, much of the cost of service (including the initial call to the OEM, the time required to perform problem determination, the time required to travel to the customer site and perform the service, the replacement parts, the time required to test the returned parts, and the cost of disposing or redeploying nondefective returned parts) has already been incurred by the OEM.
An additional burdensome cost is incurred when the service technician must execute a lengthy diagnosis procedure (e.g., either on-site or remotely) in an attempt to replicate the problem, in order to identify which hardware or software subsystem is responsible for the event. During this time, the system is usually unavailable.
Yet another cost is incurred when the technician arrives at the customer site only to find out that the technician does not have the correct hardware or software to repair the root cause of the event.
Thus, these operations are extremely expensive, especially for a large corporation with thousands of units in the field. Indeed, the cost due to NDFs can easily run into tens of millions of dollars per year. Moreover, customer goodwill may be lost or degraded due to the inconvenience (and loss of the machine in question) to the customer.
Further, running and interpretation of the diagnostics often requires a highly skilled technician, whose time is a highly limited and valuable resource.
Hence, prior to the invention, there has been no inexpensive mechanism for identifying whether the problem is a hardware- or a software-induced problem, misconfiguration, or the like.